


I Smile When My Heart Is Bleeding

by otawritesthings



Series: Whumptober 2019 [4]
Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, But also, Fluff, Gunshot, Human shield, Hurt, M/M, Whump, Whumptober 2019, gun - Freeform, wound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-12-02 00:15:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20945729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otawritesthings/pseuds/otawritesthings
Summary: /\ WHUMPTOBER DAY 4: Human Shield /\Eiji wanted to go to the library and eat hot dogs with his favorite person.Ash wanted to keep Eiji safe.





	I Smile When My Heart Is Bleeding

“The library? Out of all the places in the world,  _ you  _ chose the  _ library? _ ”

Eiji blushed. “Well, you do seem to enjoy it there. I figured you’d maybe… like to just go unwind? Yeah, unwind. And those hot dogs were really good--”

Ash laughed and tossed his fluffy yellow hair out of his face, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Save it. I just figured with  _ one day  _ to do whatever you would want to sight see or something cheesy like that, but no, apparently you want to go to the  _ library. _ ” He laughed harder, a thin hand coming up to card through his locks and Eiji couldn’t help but smile

He loved to look at Ash when he wasn’t frowning. These days, Ash  _ never  _ smiled. He was always frowning or staring blankly right ahead, and God, if Eiji didn’t love the way Ash smiled. He loved a lot of things about Ash actually, but every time he thought about it, his brain would just fall apart at the seams and hie tongue would tie as though he didn’t know the English words to say.

“So… we  _ will  _ go to the library?” Eiji grinned, dark eyes bubbling with excitement.

“Fine.” Ash chuckled, wiping a “tear” from his eye and standing up from the couch. “Let’s go.”

“R-Right now?” Eiji gulped, hastily scrambling up from the couch. “O-Oh, ok, I-I’ll go get my jacket.”

“And check that stutter out while you’re at it!” Ash teased as Eiji booked it to his room, “One might think you were excited to  _ go out  _ with me!”

“Never!” Eiji cackled over his shoulder, grabbing a bomber jacket and shrugging it on. It was cold in New York.

_ Forever. _

When he met Ash back in the kitchen, the blonde had slipped on his trench coat and his glasses. Eiji wondered if they were prescription, but he never knew how to ask. “Let’s go small fry.”

“Bookworm.”

\---

“The hot dogs get better every time, I swear.” Eiji practically moaned as he licked ketchup and mustard off his fingertips.

“They always taste better when you’re hungry.” Ash shrugged, chomping heavily on his chili dog. He paused mid-chew to look at Eiji, eyeing him up and down with a watchful eye. “Are you still hungry? You are eating correctly, right?”

Eiji fidgeted. “Of course! I guess I was just hungry without realizing it?” He laughed nervously. “But I swear, I’m eating correctly.” He covered up when Ash fixed him with a hard stare. 

“Good.” Ash cracked a small grin, and Eiji basked in the warmth of the sight. He looked so peaceful here. Nobody was following them, there were no gunshots going off in the middle of the night, making Eiji shoot up in a panic and run to Ash’s bed for safety. There was no blood staining the walls, no screaming, no crying, no  _ dying _ . It was just Ash. Eiji and Ash and their hot dogs and the library. 

“Eiji.” Ash whispered, taking another sloppy bite of his hot dog. “Don’t turn around. Do you understand me?” He mumbled into the wrapper. 

“A-Ash?” Eiji whispered, and he went to look over his head, but Ash’s hand snaked around his shoulders and guided him down a corner onto a busier street.

“I said  _ don’t turn around. _ ” Ash growled, and Eiji wondered if he could hear how fast his heart was beating. “He’s got a gun.”

“A  _ gun? _ ” Eiji wheezed, staring at Ash with wide, doe eyes. “Wait, what?”

“I said,  _ don’t look back!”  _ Ash hissed as Eiji flicked his eyes backward, chin darting back and forth almost seizurously to see who was following them. “If he knows we know he’s here, he’ll shoot, and last I checked neither of us put on bulletproof vests this morning, correct?”

Eiji took a deep breath in through his nose. “So… now what?” He whispered, voice quivering just at the edges.

“We’re going to keep walking down this road.” Ash hummed, putting a casual hand in his coat pocket, and the other one wrapping around Eiji’s middle. The action made the Japanese boy start, but he relaxed as Ash guided him around. “We’re window shopping. Find something you like, point at it, and we’ll go check.”

“Uhm...okay.” Eiji whispered, and sunk a little into Ash’s side. The younger boy’s warmth greeted him, along with the feeling of something hard and thick in his pocket.

_ A gun. _

Of course Ash carried a gun with him  _ everywhere.  _

“Hey, Ash, look at that store over there.” Eiji pointed at a store with different jackets and shirts in the display. “I wanna new jacket.”

“Alright.” Ash made a show of shrugging and all but pushed Eiji into the store. “Which one do you like?”

_ Ash was a good actor, but Eiji could feel how tense his body was from where the shorter boy was tucked into his arms.  _

“EVERYBODY ON THE GROUND!” 

Eiji didn’t need to be told twice. He knew from American movies that those words meant trouble, and that likely the person had a gun.

He hit the floor like a sack of flower, Ash sunk a little bit more gracefully next to him, and Eiji could see him reach dangerously for his pocket with the little revolver in it. With frightened eyes and a beating heart, he looked over his shoulder to see a man in a red sweater and black jeans with a thick black pair of sunglasses on his face pointing a gun right at his forehead. 

“WHERE IS ASH LYNX?” The man growled, and Eiji pointedly did  _ not  _ look at Ash. Instead, he stared down the barrel of the gun and acted as if he didn’t know what was happening. “WHERE IS HE?” He glared, and then ripped off his sunglasses to reveal beady, bloodshot eyes. “Ah.” His voice sunk to a more normal level. “Gotcha.” He sneered at the blonde.

“Eiji--” Ash started to command him to do something, but stopped when the man with the gun stepped closer, training it to Eiji’s body.

“Oh, Eiji is it? Is this one of your friends, Ash?” He smiled sickeningly. “You wouldn’t like it if I…” he paused and made a show of pointing his gun to his head and pretending to shoot it.

Ash growled,  _ growled _ at the man and shifted so he was seated on his haunches, ready to strike.

“Cute.” The man chuckled. “Let’s try it, shall we?”

He raised the hand gun.

Aimed.

Fired.

Eiji screamed.

But… nothing.... hurt. 

He had squeezed his eyes shut, expecting the bullet to enter his body and ricochet of his bones like a roller coaster, but instead it had…

Hit Ash, square in the shoulder. Ash, who was on his hands and knees, covering Eiji’s body like a blanket. Ash, who was bleeding, but nonetheless grinned at Eiji. Ash, who with his smile could normally make Eiji’s heart beat faster, but now it was slowing down to a stop as he watched blood seep through Ash’s smooth lips.

“ _ ASH!!!” _


End file.
